Promotional Video Production

written by: Shane Burley•edited by: Amy Carson•updated: 4/25/2011

Here are some tips on how to create a great promotional video production.

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Corporate Video Production

Though many people look at the big time and independent film industry as the main place for professional video production, much of what is produced is merely for commercial clients. Corporate video production is a major field and often times what those who go to film school end up doing for money. These different types of corporate video productions can ben anything from internal communications, product videos, commercials, and web videos. Promotional video production is a varied term within this world, usually indicating the promotion of a product, service, or organization. This is different than a commercial because it is longer format and more in depth, while at the same time not being simply focused on the surface imagery. Here are a few tips on how to produce your own promotional video in a professional way.

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Aesthetics

The first thing you have to remember with promotional video production is that while you are not going to try to replicate the pure imagery of the regular commercial, you still need to present things in a purely positive and aesthetic light. Often times a promotional video will end up taking the form of a documentary film, except it has some key difference. First, if there are interviews they are not natural and honest in any way. Instead, they are inspired, or even scripted. to say positive things about the subject. The images related to the subject, such as images of the product or location, are meant to look attractive and not necessarily focused on realism. This is not a natural view, but one that is angled so as to promote the subject in question.

When you are in production, and especially post-production, you need to make aesthetics the primary focus. In much of regular film production, the content, performances, idea, and other elements will actually take predominance over the style. Here, the opposite is true since the content is purely a sales pitch for an item. This does not, however, mean that you are going to be lying in the promotional video, but instead focusing on persuasion as in advertising and public relations. Use clean and dramatic lighting when necessary, make sure the promotional individuals and actors are well dressed and make up is applied, make the editing cuts quick and sharp, and make sure that color correction and motion graphics are included.

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Market Research

Though market research for video production may seem like an expensive and complicated task, it does not have to be. What market research really means is an identification of who your target audience is and a look at the things that may appeal to them. What this first requires is a detailed look at who you are targeting with your product or service. How old are they? Where do they live? What type of movies/music/fashion/literature do they prefer? What is their cultural identity? Did they go to college? How much money do they make? These and more are going to help you to create an image of the ideal target for your ad.

From here you will create a promotional video that really taps into the needs and desires of your target audience, and you can do this in much more depth than a commercial because you can explicitly address them rather than just using imagery to make an emotional connection. Here you can openly mention why your product or service will meet their needs and present a clear case to them. You do not want to make the promotional video exclusive to them by disparaging outside consumers, but make sure that there is a clear target with which you know you have a much higher rate of success.

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Story

Story is the most fundamental way that humans communicate and understand, so a great promotional video production will bring in a sense of a story. You can do this in a number of different ways depending on your specific subject and target audience. You could tell the story of how a non-profit got formed, the story of how a product helped a customer, or even a more abstract tale that is only partially related to the subject. No matter how you do this, you need a clear structure for the video in a way that other types of corporate video productions may not. You are going to be with your audience for a while and need to take them from a position of a novice or undecided audience member to somewhat that has been persuaded to become involved with your subject.